Saturday, October 30, 2004

THE LAST FOUR YEARS HAVE MADE THIS COUNTRY DANGEROUSLY ANGRY AND IT ISN’T GOING TO DISSIPATE NEXT WEEK. (Leapin' lizards, Sandy, I’ve started writing in capitals, and soon my eyes will turn into blank discs. I think I have combat fatigue. )

Thursday, October 28, 2004

FUN
In this week’s LA CityBeat, I pay tribute to Godzilla on his 50th birthday. (Although the "his" may be in some doubt.) In researching the piece I was amazed to learn that Godzilla and Gamera had never appeared in the same movie. Indeed, Gamera is not even a Toho Pictures character. Which is damned weird because it means that I have false movie memories of scenes in which Godz takes on the rocket-assisted turtle that never happened. Seems I can’t take my own word for anything, any more. I also didn’t have enough space to recall John Belushi’s brilliant portrayal of Godzilla as a terminal-Elvis superstar on SNL, back in the days before singers lipsynced. (Or maybe that never happened either.)
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=1346&IssueNum=73

UNFUN
Peter W. Galbraith in yesterday’s Boston Globe...
"In 2003 I went to tell Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz what I had seen in Baghdad in the days following Saddam Hussein's overthrow. For nearly an hour, I described the catastrophic aftermath of the invasion -- the unchecked looting of every public institution in Baghdad, the devastation of Iraq's cultural heritage, the anger of ordinary Iraqis who couldn't understand why the world's only superpower was letting this happen.
I also described two particularly disturbing incidents -- one I had witnessed and the other I had heard about. On April 16, 2003, a mob attacked and looted the Iraqi equivalent of the Centers for Disease Control, taking live HIV and black fever virus among other potentially lethal materials. US troops were stationed across the street but did not intervene because they didn't know the building was important.
When he found out, the young American lieutenant was devastated. He shook his head and said, "I hope I am not responsible for Armageddon." About the same time, looters entered the warehouses at Iraq's sprawling nuclear facilities at Tuwaitha on Baghdad's outskirts. They took barrels of yellowcake (raw uranium), apparently dumping the uranium and using the barrels to hold water. US troops were at Tuwaitha but did not interfere."
Read whole thing fast because they start charging after 48 hours...

HCBeck, after being off the air for a while writes – "It's all we need--rat brain cells learning to fly airplanes." and refers us to...
"A University of Florida scientist has grown a living "brain" that can fly a simulated plane, giving scientists a novel way to observe how brain cells function as a network. The "brain" -- a collection of 25,000 living neurons, or nerve cells, taken from a rat's brain and cultured inside a glass dish -- gives scientists a unique real-time window into the brain at the cellular level."
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/uof-us102104.php)

Meanwhile, John Dean of Watergate fame figures it’s all gonna end in civil war and I ain’t exactly arguing...
"It may be days or weeks, if not months, before we know the final results of this presidential election. And given the Republican control of the government, if Karl Rove is on the losing side, it could be years: He will take every issue (if he is losing) to its ultimate appeal in every state he can. The cost of such litigation will be great - with the capital of citizens' trust in their government, and its election processes, sinking along with the nation's (if not the world's) financial markets, which loathe uncertainty. After Bush v. Gore, is there any doubt how the high Court would resolve another round? This time, though, the Court, too, will pay more dearly. With persuasive power as its only source of authority, the Court's power will diminish as the American people's cynicism skyrockets. It does not seem to trouble either Rove or Bush that they are moving us toward a Twenty-first Century civil war -- and that, once again, Southern conservatism is at its core. Only a miracle, it strikes me, can prevent this election from descending into post-election chaos. But given the alternatives, a miracle is what I am hoping for."
http://writ.corporate.findlaw.com/dean/20041022.html

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

A POX ON THESE FAUX POP-SLUTS

Watching the clips of Ashley Simpson fucking up on SNL and, I hope, destroying her worthless career in the process, causes me to recall an Saturday Night of yesteryear, when Marianne Faithfull had blown out her trademark ashtray voice during rehearsals and then, as showtime approached, fell into the kind of thousand-yard performance panic that required her to get lacquered on cognac before going on camera. And still she pulled off an heartfelt and most moving reading of "Broken English", and finished with a nice curtsey in her leather jeans. But that was when songs and singers meant something.

I am becoming extremely interested in meme and, of course, the viral mutation of the mind and mass culture. All input is welcome. (byron4d@msn.com)

Monday, October 25, 2004

THE OAF
I find it truly offensive to hear the unspeakable Bush (who never bore a burden or paid a price in his wretched simian life) daring to quote – and thereby liken himself to – John F. Kennedy.

THE WOLF
Back on March 18th of this year, I wrote a long piece about wolves and how much I like them that can be found in the archives. Now the goddamned Bush campaign is running a TV commercial in which wolves in their habitat are made metaphors for terrorism. All I can scream is at least stick to your own species, scum. For the wolves’ view (courtesy of fidicen)...
http://www.wolfpacksfortruth.org/

FAITH IS THE BASE
"Britain's Armed Forces have enlisted their first Satanist after a naval technician serving on a frigate was granted permission to practice his beliefs while at sea" – MSNBC

The archives, the links, the famous message board all seem to have sunk to the bottom. If you need them, you now have to scroll to the bottom. It may, of course, be one of those things that mysteriously right themselves after a while, so I refuse to panic. But dadnabit, fucking computer voting!!! Even if the machines weren't built by Bush's cronies we'd still probably get Little Richard as President.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

SODOMY ANYONE?
From the South Dakota Argus Leader
"A window sticker scarcely larger than a standard photo print has the nation's top elected Democrat and the state's Republican Party pressing separately for a criminal investigation. The white-on-blue sticker reads, "Vote for Daschle & Vote for SODOMY." A disclaimer alerts readers that fees were "Paid for by someone who loves Jesus. This ad is not authorized by any candidate of (sic) candidate committee." The mass mailing went out earlier this month to churches statewide. A select few homeowners with yard signs supporting Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle also received copies in their mailboxes."

Which is yet another example of timorous liberals finding themselves forced to fight the religious nutters according to the nutters’ designated rules. Me? I have nothing against sodomy, believing that it is entirely the business of the sodomite and the sodomized. Indeed, I might go so far as saying that I’m quite in favor of sodomy, given a suitable appliance. You can love Jesus all you want, okay? But it doesn’t give you the right to get on my ass, so to speak.

QUOTE OF THE DAY – "If you don’t see a sucker at the table, you’re it". – Amarillo Slim (professional poker player)

FEAR AND LOATHING
Read the latest from Dr. Thompson in Rolling Stone? Good, but not vintage, and he and I have also inadvertantly used the same joke in our election summations. Here’s a taste...
"It was the most brutal seizure of power since Hitler burned the erman Reichstag in 1933 and declared himself the new Boss of Germany. Karl Rove is no stranger to Nazi strategy, if only because it worked, for a while, and it was sure as hell fun for Hitler. But not for long. He ran out of oil, the whole world hated him, and he liked to gobble pure crystal biphetamine and stay awake for eight or nine days in a row with his maps & his bombers & his dope-addled general staff. They all loved the whiff. It is the perfect drug for War -- as long as you are winning -- and Hitler thought he was King of the hill forever. He had created a new master race, and every one of them worshiped him. The new Hitler youth loved to march and sing songs in unison and dance naked at night for the generals. They were fanatics. That was sixty-six years ago, far back in ancient history, and things are not much different today. We still love War. George Bush certainly does. In four short years he has turned our country from a prosperous nation at peace into a desperately indebted nation at war. But so what? He is the President of theUnited States, and you're not. Love it or leave it."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/6562575?&rnd=1098394261180&has-player=true